All participants were asked to either bring a food item for the Food Pantry, or pay $20 at Walter toward a bag of groceries for the pantry provided by Walter Stewart’s market. Each group then traveled to at least 12 of the locations for food samples and deals, five of which - this year Berkshire Hathaway, Against the Grain, India, Fjord Fish Market and Spiga - were mandatory.

“There are people strolling all over the streets. They fill out a map of all the locations they visited and when they come back to our table outside the Chamber, they enter to win thousands of dollars worth of prizes,” said Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce Tucker Murphy.

The event signals the end of the Pop Up Park, which remained up for the month of August and will wrap on Aug. 27 with a Young Entrepreneurs fair.

“The best part of the night is that, because it’s late August and everyone is coming back to town, people are saying hi to their friends and asking how their summer was,” Murphy said. “It’s a chance to get back to that fierce local pride we have in New Canaan.”